Race Recap: Ogden Half Marathon {the beginning}

To capture the full experience of the Ogden Half Marathon, I have to start at the very beginning.

Almost a year ago, we received a phone call from Todd’s mom. After running her first half marathon at the 2011 Ogden Half Marathon, she really wanted the family to do it with her in 2012. It didn’t take much to talk me into running one of the most beautiful half marathons in the world. Todd on the other hand, was a hard sale. Even if running more than 4 miles was possible it probably wasn’t smart with the steel plates and pins in his ankles (stupid motorcycles).

But when your mom has a dream, you do whatever it takes to make it come true. Seven of us signed up for the half (barely making it in before it sold out the same morning registration opened), six more signed up for the 5K (including Princess and Pumpkin), and the rest of the (grand)kids signed up for the Kids 1K. It was going to be a weekend of family fun with 27 of us on the race course.

Three months before the race, I decided I wanted to try for a sub 1:40 half marathon. Since this meant cutting almost 10 minutes off my PR, I knew I needed some professional run coaching to make it happen. I immediately turned to Dorothy Beal, the inspiring mother runner behind Mile Posts blog and one of my teammates on the Nuun Hood to Coast Team in 2011. I put my training into her capable e-coach hands and subscribed to her motto of “Dream big. Run long. ” for three months of training.

The night before the race was a frenzy of carb loading for the entire family (with a side of THE BEST baked meatballs). Even though I had followed my training plan, my stomach turned with worry. Had I trained enough? I’d only run 3 miles at race pace. Could I really sustain that pace for 10 more miles? And how would the altitude effect me? My training had all occurred at sea level. The start of the race was at almost 5,000ft. I struggled to keep any food down. I struggled to find my confidence.

After our pre-race dinner, the kids spent time making their “cheering section” signs.

Even though there was lots of glitter involved, none of their signs would compare to my favorite sign of the entire race: